Pedestriennes: Newsworthy But
Controversial Women in Sporting Entertainment
by Dahn Shaulis
[This historical article on the legitimacy
of women in sport first appeared in the Spring 1999 issue of Journal
of Sport History.]
In the
nineteenth century hundreds of women performed professional feats of strength
and endurance. Endurance walkers and runners known as pedestriennes were
particularly newsworthy, gaining metropolitan newspaper coverage
in Britain and North America from the mid-1870s to the late 1880s.
By the early twentieth century, however, historical
recognition of these women was scarce. 1 Popular
accounts of pedestrienne performances surfaced in the 1960s and 1970s,
yet these women have received minimal scholarly attention. 2
Some sport histories do not even acknowledge womens participation in pedestrianism.
3 Others have recorded their performances as a
single incident or a short-lived fad. 4
Contemporary texts that analyze women's
roles in sport relegate the efforts of the pedestriennes to a few sentences.
5 Some histories briefly acknowledge the athletic
endurance and significance of these women with few if any sources. 6
Two sources recognize a history of womens footraces in England, but suggest
that the phenomenon died out by the mid-nineteenth century. 7
An overriding thesis in at least two other sources is that the pedestriennes
were brazen entertainers violating Victorian moral standards who made little
contribution, or even a negative contribution, to women's sport. 8
In contrast to past accounts,
this essay portrays women's foot racing as an international phenomenon
involving women of several nationalities and ethnic groups, with threads
leading from medieval smock races to late twentieth-century professional
sports. 9
It is argued here that the pedestriennes were not
universally marginalized during their era, nor was their form of entertainment
short-lived. Some consciously strove for and for a time enjoyed a certain
legitimacy despite relentless pressure to marginalize them. Their eventual
marginalization, however, is significant because it allowed groups to continue
to restrict womens activities.
The story of the late-nineteen-century
pedestriennes should be of interest to contemporary sport history because
it illustrates how interest groups legitimize or marginalize cultural activity
through the media and through government intervention. Powerful groups
and their ideologies, then as now, are a major force for deciding what
is newsworthy, profitable, revolutionary or immoral, and ultimately how
history is written. Interest group actions are interpreted here within
six ideologies: Victorian beliefs, capitalism, medicalization, suffrage
feminism, popular culture, and physical culture.10
In the see-sawing tension between legitimation and
marginalization we discern a familiar pattern: the spectacular successes
of a few promote legitimation and embolden so many others in such a short
time to copy their activities that the social movement we call a "craze"
develops. Often, as here, the craze leads to perceived excesses and abuses
which erode legitimacy and provide a rationale for interference and suppression.
This essay focuses on two newsworthy performers, Madame
Ada Anderson and Bertha Von Hillern, during the rise of American sporting
entertainment in the 1870s.
Based on hundreds of newspaper accounts that were
written about them, I find that interpretations of the pedestriennes varied,
and that several interest groups were politically or economically involved
in their public approval and disapproval. On one side, women suffragists
temporarily accepted the walkers as symbols for womens rights and health
while business people fueled their popularity. On the other side, temperance
and religious leaders labeled the pedestriennes as morally disreputable
figures.
Doctors and newspaper editors and reporters were divided
in their opinions and interests, supporting or opposing activities as it
fit their agendas. Later, the pedestriennes were identified by doctors
and editors as exploited women in need of protection, stirring public disapproval
of the events.
Pressure to ban immoral and
strenuous performances for women was followed by government action against
such events. Women's pedestrianism eventually declined in popularity, allowing
myths of female frailty to persist despite evidence to the contrary.
This essay also attempts to understand
the actions of women entertainer-athletes as they arranged their lives.
Based on newspaper accounts of Von Hillern and Anderson, this study suggests
that some pedestriennes desired moral respectability yet walked for economic
necessity or future material comfort. This story of legitimation and marginalization
has contemporary significance as women athletes of the 1990s face similar
circumstances of being newsworthy but controversial people in international
sporting entertainment.11
In the 1870s Americans were influenced by a number
of restrictive ideologies. Victorian beliefs commanded that women and men
maintain different social responsibilities. A womans proper place was the
home, a place to protect feminine virtue. This notion was particularly
true for married women. Although women were expected to be morally superior
to men, they were thought to be physically frail.12
As an emerging ideology, medicalization supported
female frailty. Doctors who prescribed bed rest for the nervous and physically
weak created a self-fulfilling condition that women were frail and dependent.
Enterprising businesses disseminated this ideology by publishing books
and newspapers in support of Victorian beliefs.
Consistent with these beliefs, women
were often restricted from public leisure, vigorous exercise and sports.13
Temperance groups supported Victorian beliefs by protesting against drinking,
smoking, gambling, and Sunday public entertainment. In leisure, Victorian
beliefs were restrictive for men as well. Professional sport was often
located among the riffraff who aggressively gambled, consumed alcohol,
and smoked. Reading sporting and theatrical journals was considered immoral,
and many women would not allow such material in their homes. Illicit reading
was often restricted to barber shops or social clubs, and attending vulgar
exhibitions in which scantily clad female entertainers performed was not
done openly. 14
The ideologies of capitalism
and physical culture did not always match with Victorian beliefs. For some
business people, Victorian beliefs regarding women bowed to their desire
to maximize profits. As a cheap and efficient labor pool, working-class
women and children toiled in factories or farms, at home in the needle
trade, as domestic servants in wealthier homes, or as entertainers. For
the women involved, Victorian beliefs gave way to economic necessity, sometimes
even family survival. 15
The ideology of physical culture,
a mixture of religion, diet, exercise, and alternative medicine gained
popularity in the early nineteenth century. Contrary to doctors who prescribed
bed rest, doctors in favor of physical culture believed that women would
be healthier and more productive if they engaged in physical activity.
Many doctors and businesses profited from the prescription of gentle exercise
for women with doctor-sponsored exercise equipment. 16
While aspects of capitalism and
physical culture conflicted with Victorian beliefs, suffrage feminism and
popular culture directly challenged the restrictive ideology. Suffragists
certainly did not agree on all issues. However, suffrage feminist ideology
allowed a growing number of women to challenge the status quo by gaining
education and employment. Most endured the hard labor of raising children
and keeping house, but growing numbers of young women entered the work
force. By 1880 approximately 2.6 million women were engaged in wage labor
in the United States. 17
Popular culture also conflicted
with Victorian beliefs. In leisure, it allowed young women and men to attend
a variety of public and worldly pastimes and pleasures despite protests.
By the 1870s popular culture and suffrage feminism helped establish an
atmosphere for resisting Victorian beliefs. The public mingling of men
and women of various social classes in professional sporting entertainment
was one sign of this emerging resistance. 18
American entertainment and newspapers
were formidable industries by the 1870s. Thousands of customers flocked
nightly to theaters and halls for plays, lectures, circus spectacles and
sporting events. Hundreds of thousands bought newspapers that promoted
entertainment. The largest daily newspapers devoted regular space and occasionally
accorded headline status to entertainment and sport celebrities. Some specialty
weekly publications existed primarily by printing entertainment news. 19
A few thousand women worked in entertainment.
Though women performers often played subordinate roles or were marked as
less than moral women, some were materially successful. Some women were
theater owners, writers, actresses, and singers. Higher-class women had
greater opportunity for working in legitimate theater, but many working-class
women performers made their wages working in a variety of dive or saloon
acts as burlesque singers and actresses, chorus girls, or as performers
of athletic feats. Women performed athletic feats as circus performers,
swimmers, boxers, baseball players, wrestlers, bicyclists, and professional
long-distance walkers. Although several athletic performers were highly
skilled, many were portrayed as women with questionable reputations. Their
activities were considered popular and vulgar entertainment. 20
Women
ran foot races for centuries in a tradition that would ebb and flow as
a form of popular culture and entertainment. In England, smock
races were popular contests for women beginning perhaps in the Middle Ages.
Prizes for the victor of these half-mile to four-mile runs often included
a garment or money. Contests were frequently held at fairs, yet they were
presumably illegitimate for ladies. Participants were portrayed as nubile
wenches and spectators were portrayed as voyeurs. 21
In the nineteenth century, lower-class
womens pedestrian efforts were described in sporting and local newspapers.
In the 1820s the long distance walking efforts of seven-year-old Emma Freeman
and sixty-year-old Mary McMullen were reported. In the 1850s bloomer pedestrian
Mrs. Dunne gained attention for her walks of several hundred miles. In
1864 Emma Sharp and Australian Margaret Douglas made even longer efforts
that challenged mens records. 22
American women participated in smock
races and pedestrian contests, though it is difficult to assess how frequently
the events occurred. In 1851, bloomer pedestrian C.C. Cushman reportedly
walked 500 miles. A year later, American Kate Irvine performed multi-day
walks in England. Long-distance walking on a small wood surface, aptly
called walking the plank, became popular working-class entertainment. It
is believed that American women performed these walks in saloons and at
other exhibition sites, near or amid drinking, smoking, gambling, fighting,
and prostitution. Though spectator crowds were sometimes large, the events
were considered immoral by those holding Victorian beliefs. The walking
track was not an acceptable place for a proper lady. 23
Womens sporting entertainment gained
greater newspaper attention despite Victorian beliefs. In 1875 National
Police Gazette editor William E. Harding made a long distance walk
against lady pedestrian Madame Lola as part of a circus attraction. Their
records and average pace were newsworthy for the New York Times. 24
In 1875 and 1876 English swimmers Agnes Alice Beckwith and Emily Parker
swam five to seven miles in the Thames, and gained thousands of spectators
as well as international press coverage. 25 Six-day
walking races in Chicago and New York between German Bertha Von Hillern
and American Mary Marshall also attracted thousands of spectators.
The editor of one sporting newspaper, however, displayed
Victorian concern before the contest, remarking how do these ladies propose
to walk? If in petticoats they will soon tire, if in bloomer costume they
will not make very extraordinary time, but if they strip to tights and
trunks, and go for putting on a record, they will expose themselves to
criticism. 26
Neither Von Hillern nor Marshall
walked to openly contest Victorian morals. Both performers dressed in petticoats
and neither attempted to run. The twenty-one-year-old Von Hillern was said
to be from a respectable military family, but emigrated from Germany when
her family experienced financial ruin. The thirty-year-old Marshall, a
door-to-door book seller, was hoping to improve her family's lot. According
to the Chicago Times the contest was well managed, and respectable
and influential ladies and gentlemen were present. The editor of Chicago
Field, however, maintained his Victorian beliefs, stating it is not a woman's
place the walking path least of all a married woman's. We can not look
upon it as an athletic event, and give it notice to express our disapprobation
of any such unfeminine display. 27
Disapprobation notwithstanding,
the ideologies of capitalism, popular culture, and suffrage feminism seemed
to be holding sway. Crowds were so large that hundreds of potential spectators
were refused at the ticket windows. 28 The women
also received favorable coverage from metropolitan newspapers. A New
York Times editorial even suggested that these pedestrians were pioneers
for woman's rights. Noting that women had recently been denied the right
to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court but had been successful on
the walking track, the editor remarked:
The acclaim with which the victor was carried
off the ground signalized the downfall of an ancient prejudice... Obviously
those who have aspirations above baby-tending, dishwashing, and writing
for the magazines will refuse to accept walking matches in lieu of possible
forensic honors. Let such be encouraged, however, by what has been accomplished.
The world moves as it is moving. To-day it is the walking match; next it
will be the coveted Bar. After that, who shall tell how soon the ballot
will come. 29
Newspapers continued to fuel
the women's popularity as women athletes and their managers attempted to
gain respectability. Mary Marshall's two victories against male athlete
Peter Van Ness were news in the New York Times. Sporting newspapers
reported that Marshall continued walking in New York, New England, and
Pennsylvania. Millie Rose, a second attraction in the first Von Hillern-Marshall
match, received star billing and local and sporting newspaper coverage
in Cincinnati. 30 Von Hillern continued walking
in New England, but in less controversial solo exhibitions. From 1876 to
1878 the German performed in at least twenty-five events in thirteen different
cities. Her many walks were billed as a symbol of physical culture for
ladies.
New England suffragists supported
and profited from Von Hillern's solo exhibitions, making her a symbol of
womens capabilities. The leading women's suffrage newspaper Woman's
Journal included four articles about Von Hillern from December 1876
to March 1877. 31 Womans Journal acknowledged
her accomplishments to refute Victorian beliefs and medical claims that
women were too frail to be full citizens. H.C.S. stated that
the remarkable feat of walking 350 miles in six
consecutive days and nights... seems to me the most effective answer to
Dr. Clarkes Sex in Education... She would certainly convince the strongest
men who might undertake to walk with her, that the human female... is quite
as enduring as the male. 32
Businesses also profited from Von Hillern, treating
her as a paragon of fashion and virtue. According to the Boston Post,
two of her appearances at Music Hall drew daily crowds of 10,000 customers
paying 50 cents apiece. The Post remarked that Miss Bertha Von Hillern
appears to be the fashion, and her last remarkable feat will intensify
the rage that her successes have excited. Newspaper advertisements noted
that photographs of the pedestrienne would be sold at a local department
store. Also banking on the performer's success, a hat seller in Worchester
advertised Von Hillern hats as the newest fashion. Bertha Von Hillern was
considered a household word in several communities. 33
The Worchester Evening Gazette treated her as
a symbol of physical culture and respectability, worthy of praise from
all classes:
She is not a mere professional intent only upon
the pecuniary results and personal reputation to be secured by her efforts,
but is doing her chosen work from a higher and nobler motive. She recognizes
that fact, too often ignored, that women of today are too effeminate, and
that each succeeding generation has less physical stamina than the last,
and has determined in her own way to endeavor to incite women to self-improvement
in this direction. She is therefore an apostle of muscular religion, and
so far as she brings light and health to the enfeebled and debilitated,
she is a true evangel to her sex, and is worthy of their fullest respect,
sympathy and countenance. 34
Although the modest Von Hillern
may have contested the belief of women's frailty, she did not try to threaten
Victorian moral standards. Von Hillern worried what religious people thought
about her. According to the Worchester Evening Gazette
she is a regular attendant at church, and is conscientious
and careful in her devotions. Her great fear is that in her contact with
the public she may be suspected of evil, and she is every way circumspect
and guarded. It is this natural modesty which prevents her exhibitions
from turning into mere sporting affairs and which commend her to the confidence
and good will of the best society. 35
Von Hillern's performances continued
to be supported by metropolitan newspapers and doctors. The Washington
Post remarked that many of the elite of the city visited Von Hillern's
100-mile walk, while doctors publicly appreciated her accomplishment. 36
As the front page headline in local news, the Washington Star noted
that "her audience was composed of mainly leading
citizens, ministers, lawyers, medical men and a large number of ladies,
all showing interest in the performance." 37
In 1878, the Washington Post even published
a letter signed by thirty-three Baltimore doctors requesting that the lady
of refinement demonstrate her brand of physical culture in their city.
38
Although women sporting entertainers
were often portrayed as inept sex objects, Von Hillern received favorable
reviews. The Washington Post stated that "Von
Hillern's display of physical culture was one of the wonders of the nineteenth
century." 39
Another editorial favorably compared her to the famous
male pedestrian Edward P. Weston, stating she was "a
fine tribute to correct diet, strict temperance and systematic exercise."
40
Still another article noted that
members of the Analostan Boat Club and other respectable ladies were spectators
at her events. 41 Some businesses, however, profited
by satirizing her efforts. Von Hillern was the focus of burlesque shows
in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. 42 Despite
her popularity, the pedestrienne is said to have quit the walking track
for a more respectable life in Boston high society. 43
A woman in Britain, however, was ready to fill her
shoes. Before Von Hillern retired, an outspoken and muscular middle-aged
performer named Ada Anderson began making walking exhibitions. Madame Anderson,
as she became known, claimed humble origins, born to a Cockney Jew father
and English mother. The unconventional woman was single most of her life
and worked as an actress, circus clown, singer, and theater proprietress
before becoming a pedestrienne in 1877.
In contrast to Von Hillern's walks
that usually lasted a day, Anderson's efforts were much longer, matching
or nearly matching men's all-time endurance records. Her typical walks
spanned hundreds of miles and many weeks with minimal sleep. Anderson's
training as a pedestrienne was important in gaining skill and conditioning.
The pedestrienne took three months' instruction with William Gale, arguably
the best endurance athlete of the era and the only man to attempt longer
efforts. In addition to her athletic talent, Anderson was an exceptional
entertainer who fascinated spectators with songs, comical pranks, and short
speeches. Anderson's efforts profited the sporting entertainment business.
Within the year the pedestrienne performed at least nine walks at seven
different venues. She also gathered an entourage who depended on her success:
a new husband, a manager, and a nurse. 44
Unlike Von Hillerns image, Anderson's persona was
in more direct conflict with Victorian standards. Von Hillern was modest
and physically small, a single lady who regularly visited church. In contrast,
Anderson was straightforward and muscular, a half-Jewish woman who was
middle-aged, twice married, and who performed on Sundays. In her behavior
and speech, Anderson displayed outspoken confidence rather than humility.
In her speeches she exposed the cruelty placed upon working-class women
and publicly fought for her own material success.
According to the Lynn News
dated August 17, 1878:
Addressing herself to the ladies she assured them
that she would never try to perform a task she was unable to accomplish,
and for which she had not the strength. Some had said poor woman, what
she has to endure! But she did not say so. She was a Londoner herself and
had often seen the seamstresses... go to their daily toil and often sit
up all night with a small piece of candle and only bread and butter to
eat. Though she had to stay up all night, she was only too thankful that
she was well fed and well taken care of. She then alluded to the present
management in uncomplimentary terms and intimated that next week she would
perform under new management altogether. 45
In October 1878, convinced that
she could gain greater fame and fortune in America, the pedestrienne and
her entourage boarded a steamship for New York. According to newspaper
accounts the woman hoped to secure a large arena, Gilmore's Garden in New
York, for a twenty-eight day walk. Unfortunately for Anderson, arena owner
and railroad baron William Vanderbilt was unwilling to rent her the venue.
Madame Anderson was forced to occupy a smaller and less respectable site
at Mozart Garden in Brooklyn. 46
Despite her assertive nature, Anderson
considered herself a moral woman. In an interview made later in the year,
she gave her impression of Vanderbilt's rejection, and the inauspicious
beginnings of the event:
As a consequence I was forced to make my first
appearance in this country at a summer garden in Brooklyn, and never shall
I forget my feelings on that first night, for with the rough men below
me drinking beer and lewd women congregated in the building where I was
to walk, it seemed as though I should sink from the thoughts of contamination,
and that it would ruin me. I knew, however, that it was my only chance
to get before the public, and determined that I should make these people
feel I was a lady and not of their stripe, that they would make the locality
and give way for good people. They did. In forty-eight hours not one of
them looked in. The better class of Brooklyn soon learned this through
the kindness of the members of the press, and it was not long before I
had crowds of them watching my progress. 47
Anderson hoped to gain respectability for her event,
and her management made several moves to ensure success. The Brooklyn
Daily Eagle noted "the management intend
that the strictest decorum shall be preserved and that ladies and children
shall have a good opportunity of viewing this exhibition of human pluck
and endurance." Anderson encouraged gentlemen to bring their
families, and a special entrance for families allowed respectable people
to avoid unsavory characters.
The management also enlisted newspaper
personnel as judges to ensure that the contest was fair and honest. The
track was certified by the city surveyor as exactly seven laps for a quarter-mile,
and a railing was built to prevent spectators from impeding her path. The
management even offered a $100 reward to anyone who would find Anderson
off the track during her appointed times. Mozart Garden was remodeled with
a three-foot wide tan bark walking oval in the center of the building,
allowing for a seating capacity of 800 spectators. Admission prices were
twenty-five cents for adults, fifteen cents for children, and five dollars
for a season ticket. 48
Madame Anderson's efforts were newsworthy and generally
positive from the start. Newspaper coverage of her month-long walk began
December 16, 1878, in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (daily circulation
20,000 copies). Coverage by the New York Sun (circulation more than
100,000 daily) and New York Times (daily circulation 25,000) started
December 17. Headlines from the Sun and Times described Anderson
as "a woman of wonderful endurance,"
while the Times noted that "many ladies were
present, and the best of order was maintained."
The newspapers described her as
a determined but dignified muscular woman, noting her previous accomplishments
in England. Nearly every day, the newspapers reported her condition: whether
she had fatigue or blisters, her temperament, who accompanied her on her
laps, and each recorded lap time, what she ate and drank, how her nurse
woke her, and what musical numbers she sang. News reports noted that doctors
visited Anderson. One doctor publicly referred to her as "the
finest specimen of physical womanhood he ever saw." 49
Prominent people visited Anderson,
including local government officials and their wives, opera singers, and
other entertainment celebrities. By late December the hall was filled every
night with an estimated 4,000 people. 50 Lists
of prominent spectators made the performance more newsworthy. The Brooklyn
Daily Eagle reported that
among the gentlemen who were present during the
evening were Dr. Swaim, Justice Vorhiss, District Attorney Catlin, General
Slocum, Alderman Dwyer, Rev. Mr. Parker of the Sands Street M.E. Church,
Assistant District Attorney Jyre Wernberg, ex-judge Morris, William A.
Fowler and wife, Dr. Waters and family... Alderman McIntyre... Dr. Rosalind,
Counselor Barrett and many others. 51
Anderson's comments were sought
and recorded by newspaper reporters, and her ability to speak eloquently
as well as walk were vital for her continued popularity. The New York
Times and New York Sun illustrated the performers confident
and engaging demeanor:
Ladies and Gentlemen: I have on two or three occasions
before thanked you for your personal and cheerful encouragement. I could
not go on without your assistance. You have done your part, and I thank
God I have been enabled to do mine. In every twenty-four hours I have fits
of sleepiness which are very severe. While I sleep I suffer. Sometimes
I wish I could never sleep, it is so painful to wake up. When I first began
my walk I asked the ladies for their presence. I think from the number
of ladies that they are satisfied. It is good for women to see how much
a woman can endure. When I came to this country I heard that American ladies
would sometimes walk two blocks. I did not know how much two blocks meant,
but supposed that it must be two miles. Now I dont think it good for a
lady to ride two blocks when she can walk. As a lady experienced in walking,
allow me to say that it is beneficial to walk. 52
Anderson publicly and perhaps
shrewdly deflected moral derision when she thanked God for her abilities.
As a proponent of physical culture, she also gained support from ladies
by repeatedly expressing that her effort would show women their true capabilities.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and other newspapers promptly wrote articles
regarding women's health, stating that women should walk more, though not
to Anderson's extraordinary or excessive levels. 53
Anderson's popularity continued to rise. By early
January more New York papers and newspapers from out-of-town began to cover
Madame Anderson's exploits. General ticket prices were doubled to 50 cents
then raised to $1, with special tickets on the stage for ladies and gentlemen
raised to $2. Yet customers continued to fill Mozart Garden to suffocation
levels. The New York Sun and Brooklyn Daily Eagle continued
to list many notable and respectable spectators. Women were her most loyal
supporters.
According
to the New York Times, the women were so fascinated by the spectacle
of a woman on the track performing a feat of which the majority of men
would be incapable, that they watch her for hours at a time, day after
day, with unflagging interest. 54 Noting
that many church-goers attended Anderson's walk, even on Sundays, the editor
of the New York Sun remarked
what will Brooklynites do next Sunday for an entr
acte between services? The past four weeks it has been just the thing to
stroll in to see Mrs. ANDERSON walk, before or after church. But next Sunday
this resource will be gone. TALMAGE [referring
to evangelist Thomas DeWitt Talmage] is about
the only athletic exhibition left for Sundays. 55
The New York Tribune and
the Brooklyn Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), however, opposed
Anderson. The newspaper first cast doubts about the authenticity of the
walk, then published a political order by temperance officials. 56
The Tribune rumored that an Anderson double might be taking her
place on the track at night, but the claims were never substantiated. Temperance
officials were outraged that Anderson exhibited herself in a smoke-filled,
drinking atmosphere, and that their fellow church members were attending
the show on Sundays. As a result, the Tribune published a public
denouncement by the Brooklyn WCTU. The article presented
a signed petition by the Brooklyn temperance officials to the Board of
Alderman, calling for enforcement of the Sunday laws:
We claim that the opening on the Sabbath of all
stores, exhibitions, etc., to which an admission fee is charged, is illegal,
and in this particular instance the illegality is heightened by the amount
of Sunday liquor-selling which is an inevitable accompaniment, and also
we, as women, enter our protest against this pitiful display of womanhood
as alike contrary to the dictates of humanity and God. 57
Despite the WCTU protest, Anderson's performance
was allowed to continue with great success. Her exhibition ended with more
than 2,000 people filling the hall, and hundreds of people lining the area
for three blocks along Fulton Street waiting for news updates from inside.
Newspapers noted that many in the audience represented the best classes
of city life - society queens who nestled in sealskin sacques and rustling
silks.
As Anderson made her last laps she
draped herself in an American flag and again publicly thanked God for her
success. News of her triumph was telegraphed to papers from London to San
Francisco, and press reports stated that the woman had received approximately
$7,000 in earnings, a substantial portion of the $32,000 in total revenues.
Anderson was showered with gifts, from flower bouquets to silverware, and
some newspapers hailed her performance as a symbol of woman's great capabilities.
58
The editor of the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle stated that:
her success, it is not hard to prophecy, will
revolutionize the opinions held by many of her sex on the subject of physical
exercise, and particularly will it educate women in the direction of outdoor
exercise... The idea, as general as it is venerable, that a woman cannot,
by reason of her sex, endure as much as a man, is exploded, and to Madame
Anderson is due the overthrow of the mistaken notion. 59
District Attorney Catlin made
a testimonial speech to Anderson, claiming that:
Her modest demeanor and a grace of movement unparalleled
has captured the city of Brooklyn. Her victory is Brooklyn's victory. She
has won the esteem and admiration of both sexes. The best women of Brooklyn
have shown their sympathy by their patronage and applause and have been
rewarded a hundred fold. She has taught women they are not the weak vessels
they have been said to be. I hope that women of Brooklyn will imitate her
example in taking exercise. 60
Anderson's
success prompted a pedestrian craze that profited women and
businesses. Ladies in Brooklyn began to walk for better health and appearance
while dozens of working-class women across the country were inspired to
walk for money. In an article "The Best of Health," the author
remarked that:
the interesting pedestrian feat which Madame Anderson
brought to so successful a conclusion last week has given an impetus to
walking, especially among the ladies who so much admired the grace and
elegance of her motion and the perfect healthfulness of her appearance.
61
Working-class women throughout
the United States were attempting to rival or surpass Anderson, and profit
from her celebrity status. Theater owners and entertainment managers were
willing to oblige their new business for a percentage of the revenues,
and doctors were willing to provide medical services. The Washington
Post remarked that:
Madame Anderson's success has served a powerful
stimulus to the leg industry. From all parts of the country there are reports
springing up like mushrooms, doctors certifying to pulses and temperatures
and people paying out their hard earnings. 62
The Spirit of the Times added:
imitators of Mme. Anderson are becoming so numerous
that we have hardly room to catalogue them.
During 1879, more than 100 women
were walking for money. Hundreds of newspaper articles chronicled the endurance
efforts of May Marshall in Washington, D.C., Madame Andrews, ex-boxer Madame
Franklin and Annie Bartell in New York, French Canadian Exilda La Chapelle
in Chicago, Fannie Edwards in San Francisco, ex-trapeze performer Lulu
Loomer in Boston, Ida Vernon in Philadelphia, Millie Rose in Cincinnati,
and Kitty Sherman in Wheeling, who were all attempting month-long walks.
All of these efforts were promoted as attempts to break Anderson's record
of 2,700 quarter miles in 2,700 quarter hours. At the same time dozens
of others were involved in shorter events as part of the Madame Anderson
craze. William Vanderbilt even agreed to a six-day women's walking contest
for Gilmore's Garden, but the celebrity was already scheduled for other
exhibitions. 63
Ancillary businesses also profited
from Anderson's success. Given that her performances were presented daily
in large metropolitan newspapers, it would be logical to assume that articles
about her increased newspaper circulation. Anderson's face and physique
also appeared on the front page of two illustrated newspapers, the New
York Illustrated Times, and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
Other products were similarly affected by the Madame Anderson craze, as
evidenced by newspaper advertisements. As advertised, women could buy pedometers
for $5 at Tiffany & Company to monitor their daily walks and retailers
could buy mail order illustrations of women pedestrians sold by the Metropolitan
Job Printing Company for $20 per hundred. 64
Yet, after Anderson's success, some newspapers
and religious officials questioned the purpose of such exhibitions, and
government officials intervened to prohibit further performances.
A New York Times editorial
acknowledged Anderson's conspicuous pluck and wonderful powers of endurance,
but suggested that such performances should not be repeated. Sporting newspapers
trivialized her record. The New York Clipper stated that Anderson
was wonderfully plucky but could not give her the record. The editor argued
that although the woman had completed her task, she may have gained assistance
by people accompanying her on the track. America's
Spirit of the Times and England's Bell's Life remarked that
the performance has little merit as a purely pedestrian feat and that women
had already been acknowledged by medical authorities to be superior in
living with little or no sleep. 65
It is not surprising that this medical
fact was accepted; undoubtedly this form of superior endurance supported
women's oppression at home and in factories. Popular evangelist Thomas
De Witt Talmage acknowledged Anderson's walk, but lamented that women doing
traditional work were not given credit for their devotion.66 A sermon by
Reverend W.C. Steele titled "The Evils of Pedestrianism" in the
New York Herald expressed the outrage that morally righteous people
felt about such events. 67 In March 1879, police
Captain Williams invoked a seldom used blue law to prohibit women's Sunday
walks in New York City, making efforts such as Anderson's illegal in that
locale. 68 In contrast to her detractors, one
suffragist acknowledged Anderson's success as a public service for women
while criticizing temperance officials. "E.B." wrote in the Womans
Journal that Madame Anderson's performance was an important symbol of woman's
capabilities and need for healthful exercise:
I went to see Madame Anderson
on her walk... and was completely fascinated by her gracefulness, her modest
and business-like deportment, and dignity. She carried her head worthy
a queen. Every firm, elastic and graceful step was a lesson to dawdling
women floundering in pullbacks and mincing on heels. A lesson worth a hundred
simpering Sunday Schools, notwithstanding the Christian Temperance Women's
protest. I believe Madame Anderson has done a good thing in demonstrating
the ability and endurance of one woman, at least, beyond what a man is
capable of. She has made speeches occasionally in her periods of rest,
in which she has given utterance to her belief that women are committing
daily suicide in not using more freely their powers of locomotion... She
has gained the respect of all who have witnessed her performance. 69
Anderson continued her performances in six cities
amid popularity and controversy. In Pittsburgh, the crowds were large despite
competition from dramatic actress Mary Anderson and Buffalo Bill's Wild
West Show. She initially received favorable reviews from the Pittsburgh
Post and the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, each having a daily
circulation of 5,000 copies. Madame Anderson encountered trouble, however,
when powerful industrialist and church elder William Park Jr. and officials
of the First Presbyterian Church pressured the mayor to stop her Sunday
performances. At least two other churches considered similar actions.
With her business in jeopardy, the
pedestrienne publicly countered Park's effort by noting that several of
his employees were toiling on Sundays. In her speech reported by one newspaper,
Anderson added:
Let him employ his time in some other way than
trying to hunt down a woman, both night and day to attain a position in
society, in short let him go into his closet and study his Bible. There
are a certain class of people who weave for themselves a cloak of righteousness,
and certainly to their liking, and anyone who lifts the hem of that garment,
or has not one made in the very same style is nothing short of the devil.
Such a man is Mr. Park. 70
The Pittsburgh Commercial
Gazette promptly rebuked her, and in succeeding issues criticized her
performance in general. Anderson and her management continued to perform
on Sunday, cleverly advertising the exhibition as a "sacred concert."
71 Though Anderson was allowed to continue her
walk, she was fined by the mayor, and her husband and manager were arrested
for violating Sunday laws.
Business continued to be good, however, and Anderson
performed for 2,000 customers on her last day of contested walking. Consistent
with their Victorian beliefs, the United Presbyterian reported Anderson's
irreverent defiance of authority and her continued popularity as a sign
of world decline. 72
Anderson and other pedestriennes continued to attract
crowds and increasing controversy. In Chicago, Andersons exhibition reportedly
sold 24,000 tickets in the first two weeks. However, the Chicago Tribune
(circulation 25,000) published several lengthy letters, editorials, and
articles complaining about the cruelty and immorality of womens pedestrianism.
Anderson's walk was called a brutal exhibition and newspaper accounts described
Anderson as walking in agony.
Nationally, newspapers referred
to the walking phenomenon as an unhealthy enterprise, a virulent epidemic,
a madness or mania. Competition brought greater records and intense competition
as Victorian standards of decorum were increasingly ignored. 73
Yet thousands of customers continued to pay to see such contests.
Editors somewhat correctly described
women's endurance efforts as cruel torture brought on by profit-hungry
managers. Further, they invoked medical authorities such as Dr. Benjamin
Lee to substantiate the abuse claims and force government officials to
stop womens sports for their own protection. 74
The morality of the pedestriennes
remained an underlying reason for trying to stop the contests, however.
A Chicago Tribune letter to the editor, titled "Public Brutality"
stated:
our modern female pedestrians are a disgrace
to themselves and dishonor to society, and an outrageous insult to every
virtue which adorns true womanhood. Preaching and exhorting can have little
effect in its attempt at moral reformation so long as such sinful spectacles
are witnessed by respectable citizens. 75
Another letter entitled "Indignant About Mme.
Anderson" called for government officials to arrest her managers for
cruelty. Subsequently, police benevolently arrested her husband and one
of her managers for cruelty. Although an impartial doctor cleared her to
continue, Anderson reportedly slept through a few scheduled laps, and the
contest was labeled a failure.
The exhibition gained another scandal
when the pedestrienne's managers accused a Chicago Tribune reporter
of attempted blackmail. Confident in herself, the woman publicly fired
one manager for what she wrote was incompetent and neglectful management
and gross conduct. 76 In April she attracted large
audiences in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, the pedestrienne's performance
was marred by a lawsuit against two of her managers. According to the Cincinnati
Enquirer
had she one responsible manager, with none of
the miserable hangers-on such as her husband, Wood, and some of the others,
she would make both fame and money. As it is, she is in a fair way to lose
both. 77
Irresponsible and sometimes corrupt
management and disreputable audiences were to lead pedestrianism in general
into further criticism. Newspapers reported that at least two male pedestrians
had died. In New York City, several pedestriennes were carried off the
track, one of whom was rumored to have died. Editors and reporters noted
that many women were untrained for endurance events but walked in desperation
to improve their life chances. 78
In Louisville, Anderson quit due to poor attendance,
but she was well received in Detroit with an average daily attendance of
1,000 spectators. According to the Detroit Free Press, "her
behavior is entirely free from the slightest tinge of boldness or immodesty."
In Buffalo, Anderson's detractors
stood to profit if Anderson quit, but the bold woman continued. When a
glass shard was found on the track, evidently placed there to stop her,
she informed the audience that a cut foot would not make her leave the
track, and she would complete her task despite the efforts of those who
wished to injure her. 79 The intrepid pedestrienne
continued to walk despite poor attendance and an ulcerated mouth that required
a tooth extraction between laps. 80
Anderson's newsworthiness declined as pedestrianism
fell into further disrepute. Her next walk in New York City was barely
covered by the newspapers, except when the National Police Gazette
reported that "roughs" had broken up the race and police had
made arrests. In December 1879, Anderson eventually competed in William
Vanderbilt's building, now known as Madison Square Garden. The veteran
of thousands of miles completed a respectable 351 miles in six days, but
she was surpassed by competitors half her age.
Although audiences for the New York contest were numbered
in the thousands, the pedestriennes' livelihoods were threatened as pressure
to eliminate women's contests gained momentum. Citing acts of cruelty to
pedestriennes in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and St.
Louis, the New York Times called for an end to such contests.
Whether news stories of brutality
and immorality were true or not, they undoubtedly affected public opinion.
Women's pedestrianism appeared to serve no great purpose. With dozens of
events held in dozens of cities, the events could no longer be substantiated
as educational for women, or even supported as novelties. Pedestrianism
had now become associated with excess and brutality, as well as immorality.
Doctors and suffragists who supported pedestrianism fell silent, and newspapers
reduced reports on women's sporting entertainment. In New York, the local
Council of Aldermen agreed to make women's contests illegal in the name
of protecting women. Men's contests were not affected by these restrictions
until several years later. 81
In early 1880, Anderson returned
to her singing career as women's pedestrianism became less popular. It
is known, however, that she gave at least one more walking performance,
a solo effort at Central Theatre in Baltimore in 1880. Anderson's faded
status was bolstered by a front-page advertisement that electric lights
would illuminate her effort, and $500 would be paid to anyone who detected
her missing a single lap. Anderson's walk was closed to the public on Sundays
to avoid conflict. At the end of her exhibition she "made
a speech from the front of the stage in which she returned her thanks to
the throng and hoped to meet them all again." It is not readily
apparent what happened to Madame Anderson, although she had stated a year
earlier that she hoped to retire by 1880. Women's records continued to
improve in the early 1880s, but their performances were considered less
newsworthy. 82
Several factors may be
considered in the decline of women's pedestrianism. Organized
social pressure by temperance officials, religious conservatives and doctors
against women's sporting entertainment appears to be a major factor in
their marginalization. Government actions ranging from arrests to legislation
against the events cannot be ignored either. Managers and theater owners
who exploited women performers and created a dangerous atmosphere were
also a factor in discouraging spectators.
Apparently, it was not simply public
disapproval of the women's morality, but efforts to protect women, that
led to a reduction in vigorous sporting efforts. As events were represented
as cruel torture against women, it would have been difficult for suffragists
or doctors to continue supporting the performances. Bloody sports such
as cockfighting and dogfighting had already been reduced because of their
cruelty to animals. 83 Certainly women deserved
at least the same protection.
The impression that such events
were abusive toward women as well as immoral seemed to tip the scales toward
greater marginalization. It should be noted that men's professional events
also fell into disrepute for its excesses and abuses as amateur sports
became more legitimate and newsworthy. 84
Still, women continued endurance
efforts in pedestrianism, bicycling, and transcontinental walks for more
than a decade. Women entertainer-athletes received some newspaper attention,
though not at the levels of the Madame Anderson craze. Pedestriennes Millie
Rose, Sarah Tobias, Bella Kilbury, and Indian Princess, who began their
careers during the craze of 1879, appeared in six-day matches in Baltimore
and Washington, D.C. in 1889. The Washington Post published daily
articles about the matches. 85
Three other pedestriennes, Louise Armaindo, May Stanley,
and Elsa Von Blumen became professional bicyclists. To safeguard their
health, pedestriennes and female bicyclists were usually limited to performing
twelve hours per day. 86
Presently, it is difficult to assess
when womens professional sporting entertainment stopped, if it stopped
at all. At least one pedestrienne, Spanish immigrant Zoe Gayton, was walking
in 1896. 87
For most of the twentieth century,
images of women professional sporting entertainers faded as the idea of
female frailty lingered. The most vivid memories
of these women were that they were brazen and immoral burlesque entertainers.
The myth of female frailty in sport, particularly in distance running,
continued into the 1960s. Physical educators and doctors continued
this myth by restricting girls and women from vigorous sports and exercise.
Several bold women did compete, but often against the rules and with the
threat of being labeled as deviants. Women were not allowed to participate
in most marathons until the 1960s, and the first official Olympics womens
marathon was not held until 1984. 88
It is not coincidental that stories
about the pedestriennes resurfaced in the late 1960s and 1970s, during
the rise of feminist ideology and popular culture. As women gained power
and histories of working womens lives became legitimate, popular and favorable
short stories about the pedestriennes were written. 89
One feminist writer, Barbara Walder, even referred to the pedestriennes
as "foremothers," giving them a status of legitimacy.
Although the issue of gender inequality
in sport gained scholarly attention, the pedestriennes did not receive
serious mention. In the 1990s, historians identified the phenomenon, but
did not see the historical relevance in conducting critical research. Unfortunately,
popular articles about the pedestriennes written in the 1960s and 1970s
have been neglected, and the status of these women in sport history is
marginal at best. Feminists in sport sociology note that women athletes
are portrayed as sex symbols or given less press coverage than male athletes
in the male-dominated sports realm. 90 The example
of the pedestriennes points out that such trivialization and marginalization
can result in historical amnesia.
In the 1990s, women have become
increasingly newsworthy but controversial participants in global sporting
entertainment. Women entertainer-athletes have
gained ground, but powerful interest groups and ideologies continue to
determine how the athletes are portrayed. According to Sports
Illustrated, Algerian world champion 1,500 meter runner Hassiba Boulmerka
was symbolized both as a hero and an anti-hero in her country. Although
some citizens were proud of her achievement, Boulmerka offended many fundamentalist
Muslims by appearing in public without being covered. With rising conflict
between Muslims groups in Algeria, Boulmerka became a symbol of antifundamentalists.
91
In China, world record holders Wang
Junxia and Qu Yunxia were portrayed as poor rural girls who were willing
to train in harsh conditions for their future material betterment. In their
own country, these women were heroes. In other countries, newspapers and
magazines rumored about their use of illegal performance enhancing drugs.
In Runners World, independent sports scientists were quoted to discredit
their performances. 92
In Ethiopia, Derartu Tulus victory in the Olympic
10,000 meter run symbolized the possibilities of an emerging Africa and
the potential for African women. According to the New York Times
her success, however, has not come without criticism. 93
The newsworthy but controversial nature of these women
has striking parallels with the pedestriennes. Although it would appear
that women have gained a stronger foothold in sporting entertainment, the
pedestrienne story may illustrate how powerful interest groups and ideologies
continue to influence how women athletes are symbolized.
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges James H. Frey and John A. Lucas
for their reviews and suggestions, and Ed Sears, David Blaikie, Peter Lovesey,
and John Cumming for locating historical materials.
-- Copyright Dahn Shaulis,
1995.
 About
the Author: Dahn Shaulis (depicted at right) is an exercise physiologist,
historian, and sociologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Shaulis's
current research is identifying social and historical barriers that have
constrained older adults from engaging in exercise. See WOA
02-15 for an article by Shaulis on Exilda La Chapelle. RETURN TO TOP.
Notes
1. John Krout, Annals of America Sport: The
Pageant of America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929), 200; Robert
B. Weaver, Amusements and Sports in American Life (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1939; New York: Greenwood Press, 1968), 63. RETURN TO TEXT
2. Guy M. Lewis, "The Ladies Walked and
Walked", Sports Illustrated, no. 27 (1967): R3-4; Barbara Walder,
"Walking Mania", Women Sports, June 1976, 16-17; Anonymous,
"Pedestrianism in Perry Hall", Branching Out, July/August
1976, 34-35; George Gipe, "Mary Marshall Was Strides Ahead of the
Times When She Beat a Man", Sports Illustrated, October 24,
1977, E5. RETURN TO TEXT
3. Benjamin G. Rader, American Sports: From
the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports (Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), 36-38; John A. Lucas, "Pedestrianism and
the Struggle for the Astley Belt", 1878-1879 Research Quarterly,
39 (1968): 587-594; John A. Lucas and Ronald A. Smith, Saga of American
Sport (Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1978), 342-372; Nina Kuscsik,
"The History of Womens Participation in the Marathon", Annals
of the New York Academy of Sciences, 301 (1977), 862-876; Allen Guttmann,
From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1978), 33-36; Patricia Vertinsky, Women, Sport and
Exercise in the Nineteenth Century, in Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives, D. Margaret Costa and Sharon R. Guthrie, ed. (Champaign,
IL: Human Kinetics, 1994), 63-82. RETURN TO TEXT
4. John Cumming, Runners & Walkers: A
Nineteenth Century Sports Chronicle (Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1981),
102-105; Dale A. Somers, The Rise of Sport in New Orleans: 1850-1900
(Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1972), 62. RETURN TO TEXT
5. Douglas A. Noverr and Lawrence E. Ziwecz,
The Games They Played: Sports in American History, 1865-1980 (Chicago:
Nelson-Hall, 1983), 37; Mary A. Boutilier and Lucinda SanGiovanni, The
Sporting Woman (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1983), 33. RETURN TO TEXT
6. Jennifer Hargreaves, Sporting Females:
Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Womens Sports (London:
Routledge, 1994), 143-144; Karen Kenney, "The Realm of Sports and
the Athletic Woman, 1850-1900", in Reet Howell, ed., Her Story
in Sport, (West Point, NY: Leisure Press, 1982), 124-126. Joan S. Hult,
"The Female American Runner: A Modern Quest for Visibility",
in Barbara L. Drinkwater, ed., Female Endurance Athletes (Champaign,
IL: Human Kinetics, 1986), 6. RETURN TO TEXT
7. Peter F. Radford, "Womens Footraces in
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: A Popular and Widespread Practice",
Canadian Journal of History of Sport, 25 (1994):50-61; Allen Guttmann,
Womens Sports (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 48-49,64,71-73.
RETURN TO TEXT
8. Gerald R. Gems, "Working Class Women
and Sport: An Untold Story", Women in Sport and Physical Activity
Journal, 2 (1993): 17-30; Susan K. Cahn, Coming on Strong: Gender
and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Womens Sport (New York: Free Press,
1994), 14. RETURN TO TEXT
9. For a description of womens endurance from
a critical postmodern perspective, see Dahn Shaulis, Women of Endurance.
"Pedestriennes, Marathoners, Ultramarathoners, and Others: Two Hundred
Years of Women and Endurance," Women in Sport and Physical Activity
Journal, 5 (Winter 1996):1-27. RETURN TO TEXT
10. See George H. Sage, Power and Ideology
in American Sport (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics); Robert Goldman and
David R. Dickens, "Leisure and Legitimation", Society and
Leisure, 7 (1984):293-323. RETURN TO TEXT
11. This work depends heavily on newspapers
as original sources for historical interpretation. Nevertheless, it is
difficult to consider newspapers as a monolithic source. Democrat, Independent,
religious, Republican, sporting entertainment, and suffragist newspapers
presented varying perspectives on news, editorials, and advertisements.
RETURN TO TEXT
12. Victorian beliefs reflected some conservative
religious ideas such as Puritanism that predated the Victorian era. See
Ellen W. Gerber, et al., The American Woman in Sport (Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1974), 3-47; Jennifer A. Hargreaves,
"Victorian Familialism and the Formative Years of Female Sport",
in James A. Mangan and Roberta J. Park, ed., From Fair Sex to Feminism:
Sport and Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial
Eras (London: Frank Cass and Co., Ltd., 1987), 130-143; Kathleen McCrone,
"Class, Gender, and English Womens Sport, c. 1890-1914", Journal
of Sport History, 18 (1991):159-182. RETURN TO TEXT
13. For various perspectives regarding female
sport and medical regulation see Patricia Vertinsky, "Women, Sport,
and Exercise in the Nineteenth Century", in Costa and Guthrie, ed.,
Women in Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Champaign, IL: Human
Kinetics, 1994), 63-82; Roberta J. Park, "Physiology and Anatomy are
Destiny!? Brains, Bodies, and Exercise in Nineteenth Century American Thought",
Journal of Sport History, 18 (1991) 31-63; Allen Guttmann Womens
Sports: A History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 84-105.
RETURN TO TEXT
14. On, for example, the moral illegitimacy
of the National Police Gazette, see Elliot J. Gorn, "The Wicked
World", Media Studies Journal, 6 (Winter 1992): 1-15. RETURN TO TEXT
15. For conditions of American working-class
women, see Gerda Lerner, The Female Experience: An American Documentary
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 273-316. RETURN TO TEXT
16. For interpretations of nineteenth century
physical culture, see Harvey Green, Fit for America (New York: Pantheon
Books, 1986); and James C. Wharton, Crusaders for Fitness (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1982). RETURN TO TEXT
17. Bureau of Census. 1975. Historical Statistics
of the United States, "Colonial Times to 1970", Bicentennial
Edition, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.), 138. RETURN TO TEXT
18. For descriptions of the intermingling between
classes, see Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure
in Turn-of -the-Century New York (Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
1986), 37, 97-114; William L. Slout, ed., Broadway Below the Sidewalk:
Concert Saloons of Old New York (San Bernadino, CA: The Borgo Press,
1994), 99-104; and Popular Amusements in Horse and Buggy America
(San Bernadino, CA: Borgo Press, 1995),178-184. For descriptions of gentlemens
amateur sport and working-class professional sport see Richard Gruneau,
Class, Sport, and Social Development (Amherst, MA: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1983); John A. Lucas and Ronald A. Smith, Saga
of American Sport (Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1978), 135-37.
RETURN TO TEXT
19. Newspapers promoted actress Mary Anderson,
pedestrians Edward Weston and Daniel OLeary, swimmer Paul Boynton, rower
Edward Hanlan, entertainers Tom Thumb and Buffalo Bill Cody, religious
lecturers Thomas Dewitt Talmage and Henry Ward Beecher, and author/performers
Mark Twain and Anna Dickinson. For statistics regarding entertainment establishments
see Department of the Interior, "Report on the Social Statistics of
Cities", George E. Waring, ed. (Washington, DC: Government Printing
Office, 1883): 533-568. For circulation records see the American Newspaper
Directory ( New York: George P. Rowell, 1879). For the role of newspapers,
particularly sporting newspapers, in promoting sport, see Melvin L. Adelman,
A Sporting Time: New York City and the Rise of Modern Athletics
(Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 268-286; and Lucas and
Smith, Saga of American Sport, 80. RETURN TO TEXT
20. For details of social stratification, and
the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate in the English theater,
see Tracy C. Davis, Actresses as Working Women: Their Social Identity
in Victorian Culture (London: Routledge, 1991). See also Peter Bailey,
ed., Music Hall: The Business of Pleasure (Milton Keynes: Open University
Press, 1986); and Michael R. Booth, Theatre in the Victorian Age
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). RETURN TO TEXT
21. Guttmann, Womens Sports, 48-49, 64,
71-73. RETURN TO TEXT
22. Shaulis, Women of Endurance, 3. According
to Telegraph and Argus, September 17, 1964, 336-339, more than 100,000
people witnessed Emma Sharp walk 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours from September
17, 1864, to October 29, 1864. RETURN TO TEXT
23. Charles M. Andrews, Colonial Folkways
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919), 121; John Cumming, Runners
& Walkers: A Nineteenth Century Sports Chronicle (Chicago: Regnery
Gateway, 1981); "Spirit of the Times", November 1, 1851, 438
and Saint Louis Intelligencer, November 1, 1851, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
24. New York Times March 29, 1875, 9;
and March 30, 1875, 7. RETURN TO TEXT
25. Ibid., September 18, 1875, 10; and September
20, 1875, 2; Spirit of the Times October 9, 1875, 219. Beckwith
continued swimming in England and the United States. See the New York
Times, May 22, 1880, 2; and June 9, 1883, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
26. Chicago Field, January 23, 1876,
372. RETURN TO TEXT
27. Ibid., February 7, 1876, 393. RETURN TO TEXT
28. Chicago Times, February 1, 1876,
1; and February 6, 1876, 3. New York Times, February 5, 1876, 1;
November 10, 1876, 5; and November 12, 1876, 7. New York Sun, November
9, 1876, 1. RETURN TO TEXT
29. New York Times, November 18, 1876,
4. RETURN TO TEXT
30. Marshalls matches against male pedestrian
Peter Van Ness were reported in the New York Times, November 19,
1876, 2; November 23, 1876, 1. Spirit of the Times, February 19,
1876, 42; February 26, 1876, 68; Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, February
19, 1876, 4; London Times, December 5, 1877, 5; New York Clipper,
April 7, 1877, 11. RETURN TO TEXT
31. Womans Journal, December 23, 1876,
412; and January 7, 1877, 26-27. For Dr. Clarkes role in supporting female
frailty, see Park, Physiology and Anatomy are Destiny!?, 36-39.
RETURN TO TEXT
32. Womans Journal, December 30, 1876,
421. RETURN TO TEXT
33. Boston Post, January 21, 1877, 2;
January 22, 1877, 3. Worchester Daily Spy, May 12, 1877, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
34. Worchester Evening Gazette, May 15,
1877, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
35. Ibid., June 2, 1877, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
36. Washington Post, January 28, 1878,
4, advertised Von Hillerns exhibition as an effort of physical culture
and an exemplification of her theory of health. RETURN TO TEXT
37. Washington Star, January 19, 1878,
1. RETURN TO TEXT
38. Washington Post, January 14, 1878,
4. RETURN TO TEXT
39. Ibid., January 21, 1878, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
40. Ibid., January 29, 1878, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
41. Ibid., January 30, 1878, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
42. Washington Star, February 8, 1878,
reported Von Hillerns performance favorably, but ridiculed womens baseball
efforts June 7, 1878, 6. Detroit Free Press August 17, 1879, 6,
reported weak and inept female baseball players despite an attendance estimated
at 2,000. For advertisements of burlesque satires of Von Hillern, see the
Philadelphia Public Ledger, November 20, 1877, 1; and Washington
Evening Star, February 8, 1878, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
43. New York Clipper, February 15, 1879,
370; National Police Gazette, April 17, 1880, 14. RETURN TO TEXT
44. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 14,
1879, p. 3; Louisville Courier-Journal, June 7, 1879, 4; New
York Sun, December 17, 1878, 3; London Times, August 26, 1878,
8; Bells Life, February 9, 1878, 9; New York Sun, January
14, 1879; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 16, 1878, 2; New York
Times, December 17, 1878, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
45. Peter Lovesey, Nineteenth Century Women
Walkers, unpublished manuscript, 16-17. RETURN TO TEXT
46. For an interpretation of William Vanderbilt
and other industrialists, see Matthew Josephson, The Robber Barons
(New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1934). RETURN TO TEXT
47. Buffalo Courier, August 23, 1879,
2. RETURN TO TEXT
48. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 16,
1878, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
49. New York Sun, December 17, 1878,
1; December 23, 1878, 1; and December 25, 1878, 1. New York Times,
December 17, 1878, 2; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 18, 1878, 4;
December 22, 1878, 4; and December 28, 1878, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
50. New York Sun, December 26, 1878,
1; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 30, 1878, 4; January 13, 1879,
4. RETURN TO TEXT
51. Ibid., January 11, 1879, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
52. New York Sun, December 31, 1878,
3. RETURN TO TEXT
53. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 29,
1878, 2, compared Andersons contribution to womens health with the walking
of Queen Victorias daughter, Princess Louise, in Canada. For favorable
reviews of Andersons endurance capacity, see the New York Sun, December
31, 1878, 3; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 13, 1879, 2; January
14, 1879, 2; January 17, 1879, 3; and January 19, 1879, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
54. New York Times, January 13, 1879,
5. RETURN TO TEXT
55. New York Sun, January 14, 1879, 1-2.
RETURN TO TEXT
56. The New York Tribune, January 7,
1879, 8, suggested fraud was possible. The New York Evening Post,
January 10, 1879, 4 and New York Times January 9, 1879, 5, refuted
claims of fraud. RETURN TO TEXT
57. New York Tribune, January 14, 1879,
5. RETURN TO TEXT
58. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 12,
1879, 2; January 14, 1879, 2; January 17, 1879, 3. Washington Post,
beginning January 2, 1879, 1; Rocky Mountain News January 10, 1879,
1; San Francisco Chronicle January 13, 1879, 3; Chicago Tribune,
January 17, 1879, 12. The Salt Lake Tribune, January 15, 1879, carried
news of the WCTU protest with no mention of her success. RETURN TO TEXT
59. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 14,
1879, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
60. Ibid., January 14, 1879, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
61. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 19,
1879, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
62. Washington Post, January 22, 1879,
2. RETURN TO TEXT
63. New York Times, January 14, 1879,
4, 5; Spirit of the Times, January 18, 1879, 633; and February 8,
1879, 12; New York Clipper, February 8, 1879, 363; and March 1,
1879, 387. Minority women included Dianna de Cristoral, "The Great
Egyptian Pedestrienne", and Tek Sek, the "Indian girl".
See the Philadelphia Inquirer, April 2, 1879, 2.; National Police
Gazette, January 31, 1880, 15. RETURN TO TEXT
64. Tiffany pedometers were advertised in the
New York Evening Post, January 30, 1879, 3. Advertisements for illustrations
appeared in the New York Herald, March 24, 1879, 1. The New York Illustrated
Times, January 4, 1879, 195 and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper,
February 1, 1879, 1, presented front page action pictures and stories of
Anderson. RETURN TO TEXT
65. Bells Life, February 1, 1879, 12;
and New York Clipper, January 18, 1879, 338. John M. Hoberman, Mortal
Engines (New York: The Free Press, 1992), 33-61, suggested that gentlemens
interests in male physical prowess were ambiguous compared to their interest
in promoting white male intellectual prowess. The acknowledged ability
of Blacks and women to withstand pain were considered indicators of a minority
group's intellectual inferiority. RETURN TO TEXT
66. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 18,
1878, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
67. New York Herald, March 17, 1879,
3. RETURN TO TEXT
68. New York Times, March 24, 1879, 8.
RETURN TO TEXT
69. Womans Journal, 1 February 1879,
37. RETURN TO TEXT
70. Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, February
10, 1879, 4; New York Clipper, February 22, 1879, 378. RETURN TO TEXT
71. Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, February
6, 1879, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
72. Ibid., February 13, 1879, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
73. New York Times February 2, 1879,
7; February 14, 1879, 5; and May 4, 1879, 6; Washington Post, February
14, 1879, 2; Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1879, 9; March 9, 1879, 12;
New York Clipper, March 8, 1879, 396; and March 29, 1879, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
74. For the Philadelphia Medical Society's protest
of womens matches, see the New York Herald, March 29, 1879, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
75. Chicago Tribune, March 11, 1879,
9. RETURN TO TEXT
76. Chicago Inter-Ocean, March 14, 1879,
8; and March 24, 1879, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
77. Cincinnati Inquirer, April 21, 1879,
4; May 8, 1879, 8; and May 12, 1879, 4. RETURN TO TEXT
78. National Police Gazette, April 12,
1879, 11. RETURN TO TEXT
79. Louisville Courier-Journal, June
7, 1879, 4; and June 21, 1879, 4; Detroit Free Press, July 22, 6;
and August 14, 1879, 6; Detroit Evening News, August 12, 1879, 4.
RETURN TO TEXT
80. Buffalo Courier, August 28, 1879,
2; and September 14, 1879, 2. RETURN TO TEXT
81. New York Times, December 14, 1879,
6; Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1879, 9; National Police Gazette,
November 1, 1879, 12, 16; January 3, 1880, 2. According to the New York
Clipper, April 26, 1879, 34, a bill to prosecute anyone for holding
professional walking contests was presented to the New York State Legislature
in April 1879. It did not pass. RETURN TO TEXT
82. Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser,
May 16, 1880, 4. Madame Anderson's reported performances included:
- September 1877, Newport, Wales 1,000 half-miles in as
many half-hours
- November 1877, Plymouth, England 1,250 miles in 1,000
hours
- December 1877, Plymouth, England 96 miles in 24 hours
- January 1878, Plymouth, England 1,344 quarter-miles in
as many quarter-hours
- February 1878, Boston, England 1,008 miles in 672 hours
- April 1878, Leeds, England 1,500 miles in 1,000 hours
- June 1878, Skegness, England 1,008 miles in 672 hours
- July 1878, Kings Lynn, England 864 quarter-miles in as
many 5-minute periods
- August 1878, Peterborough, England 1,344 quarter-miles
in as many quarter-hours
- December 1878, Brooklyn, U.S.A. 2,700 quarter-miles in
as many quarter-hours
- January 1879, Pittsburgh, U.S.A. 1,350 quarter-miles
in as many quarter-hours
- May 1879, Chicago, U.S.A. 2,068 quarter-miles in as many
quarter-hours*
- April 1879, Cincinnati, U.S.A. 804 miles in 500 hours
- June 1879, Louisville, U.S.A. Starts 1,100 quarter-miles
in 1,100 quarter-hours**
- July 1879, Detroit, U.S.A. 2,028 quarter-miles in as
many quarter-hours
- August 1879, Buffalo, U.S.A. 2,052 quarter-miles in as
many quarter-hours***
- November 1879, New York, U.S.A. Attempts 4,236 quarter-miles****
- December 1879, New York, U.S.A. 351 miles in 6 days
- May 1880, Baltimore, U.S.A. 1,559 quarter-miles in as
many 12-minute periods
83. For the protest against bloody animal sports,
see Adelman, A Sporting Time, 240-243. RETURN TO TEXT
84. For interpretations on the downfall of pedestrianism,
see Lucas, Pedestrianism, 593-594. For information on the attack
on professional sports and the legitimation of amateur sports through the
ideology of nationalism, see S.W. Pope, Patriotic Games: Sporting Traditions
in the American Imagination, 1876-1926 (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997), 22-34. RETURN TO TEXT
85. Washington Post, May 19, 1889, 1;
and June 2, 1889, 6. RETURN TO TEXT
86. Ibid., May 21, 1889, 1; Chicago Inter-Ocean,
March 19, 1879, 8. RETURN TO TEXT
87. Transcontinental walks by Zoe Gayton and
Mrs. Clara Estby were reported in the New York Times, March 28,
1891, 3; and December 24, 1896, 9; The Virginia [Nevada] Evening
Chronicle, May 8, 1896, 3. RETURN TO TEXT
88. For a portrayal of pedestriennes as superannuated
prostitutes see Edward Van Every, Sins of New York (1930, reprint,
New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1972), 294. George C. ODell, listed but
trivialized pedestrienne performances in Annals of the New York Stage,
volume 11 (New York: AMS Press, 1963),120, 142, 193. Images of women pedestrians
were reformed in Hult, The Female American Runner: A Modern Quest for
Visibility, 6; and Kuscsik, The History of Womens Participation
in the Marathon, 862-876. RETURN TO TEXT
89. Guy M. Lewis, "Madame Will You Walk",
in Yesterday in Sport (New York: Time-Life Books, 1968), 147-150;
Lewis, "The Ladies Walked and Walked", R3-4; Walder, Walking
Mania, 16-17. Anonymous, "Pedestrianism" in Perry Hall, 34-35;
Gipe, "Mary Marshall was Strides Ahead", E5. RETURN TO TEXT
90. See M. Ann Hall, Feminism and Sporting
Bodies (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1996). See also Margaret C.
Duncan and Cynthia A. Hasbrook, "Denial of Power in Televised Womens
Sports," Sociology of Sport Journal, 5 (1988), 1-21; Margaret
C. Duncan "Beyond Analyses of Media Texts: An Argument for Formal
Analyses of Institutional Structures," Sociology of Sport Journal,
10 (1993), 353-372. RETURN TO TEXT
91. "Veiled Threa"t, Sports Illustrated,
January 27, 1992, 12. RETURN TO TEXT
92. Amby Burfoot, "Can of Worms; That's
What a Group of Chinese Women Opened Last Summer with Their Amazing Performances",
Runners World, December 1993, 60-69. RETURN TO TEXT
93. Jere Longman, "Tulu is Running for
Herself and Millions of Sisters", New York Times, B9, B12.
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